EnderAndrew

FU said in regards to Prestige Classes that there would be three for jedi, and three for sith. He said nothing about non-Jedi Prestige Classes. Considering your MC is a Jedi, I doubt you'll see them. She can be a Bounty Hunter, and be a soldier for "class".

Once again, I'm not arguing whether it is possible or not to pirate a PS2 or X-Box game. How many people own DVD Burners? Not many. Thusly, it is inconvienent, or impossible for them to burn DVD's. And while I can buy a DVD burner for $80 US off newegg.com, most people will go down to BestBuy and see them for $250 and assume that's the going rate. Regardless, there aren't many PS2 or X-Box mod chips out there either. People just haven't bought a whole lot of them, the way that PS1 mod chips were popular. My point remains that if is fair easier, and far more common to pirate PC titles. Go do a few searches for popular PC titles on a Peer-to-Peer file sharing service. Tell me what you find. Now go and search for X-box titles on the same peer-to-peer network. Tell me what you find. If people want to see more PC releases, they should voice their opinion with the almighty dollar (or euro).

The basis of this arugment also stems from the fact that the author is claiming that a level cap inhibits RP. In what way? If you define XP farming as RPing, then yes. I don't consider XP farming a form of RP. RP is character interaction, and immersion. That is accomplished through quests, story and setting. That is not determined by numbers. I would contend (though some would disagree) that you could have an RPG with no numbers or stats. It would be unpopular with many people, but so long as the game was based upon taking the mantle of another character, and role-playing them, it is an RPG. There is a modern connotation with RPG = leveling up, but many RPGs don't even feature levels, merely another form of character progression. And still, the assumption that character progression is inherent to an RPG I would argue. It adds a level of fun and interest to a CRPG, but it is not essential to be defined as an RPG.

Your comments are well made, and I agree with a lot of them. However, I feel that good story-intensive role-playing experiences are best found in good PnP games. Action-oriented games are no less valid, they just appeal to a different demographic. I've been striving to see more story-oriented games that are less focused on combat, but I haven't seen one yet. Even as good as Planescape Torment is, you still have some dungeon-crawl involved. Lionheart allows you to talk you way out of half of the game, but you still have to endure click-and-kill. I tire of the repetitive nature of combat in most CRPGs. I only enjoy combat in CRPGs when it's tactical. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Camarilla, White Wolf's big fan club. They run a large global LARP game with thousands of members. It's a very political, yet dangerous game of jihad. My proudest achievement during my time in the Cam was playing a character always thrust-head first into major national and regional storylines without killing another PC in my 3 and a half year span. There was still a lot pf PvP scheming, and I was the target of a lot of it as a Prince, but I never killed another player. Pure combat bored me. And a clever roleplayer should be able to out-think a situation and get around things. CRPG's rely on skill-checks, or prerequesites to determine if you can solve a quest in a method other than combat. And even then, the solutions to a quest are finite and preordained. CRPG's can never truly emulate the open-ended responsiveness of having someone run a PnP or LARP RPG.

I agree. I was happy with KOTOR. The cut-scenes involved space-ships, things not normally rendered in the engine. Actors had their scenes rendered in engine. If you have a decent 3d engine, use it and same the time/resources wasted on CGI (unless you've got a great story and Square-Enix caliber CGI).

Whether it be Kasdan, or anyone to challenge Lucas with unique ideas, the prequels would be improved. Lucas admits to being a self-imposed hermit in his ranch, and ignoring all media. He is surrounded by yes men, and funded the prequels on his dime, so he didn't even have to answer to a studio at all. There is an auteur theory, that the director of the film touches everything in the film, and thusly the film is his vision completely. Lucas is an auteur director, in a bad way. My take on good film making, like good game design, is that it is a team effort. Each person lends their creative speciality, and the director orchestrates it to a cohesive theme. If the prequels had a script polish, and some work in the editting room, they would be worlds better. I guarantee it. My question, is what the hell Jonathon Hales is doing. He was hired to polish AOTC script, and it came across as classic Lucas corny dialogue (which I contend plagued Episodes 1, 2, 4 and 6).

PS2's need hardware modding, and you need a DVD burner to pirate. PC games usually require a CD burner, or a broadband connection to download a game. To my knowledge, I don't know of anyone who has personally modded an X-Box to pirate a game. Back in the days of Playstation 1, I'd wager it was just as easy to pirate a console game, but not anymore. I'm not saying that it's not possible, just much more of a hassle. And frankly, that is the best way to combat piracy. Hackers appreciate challenges, but if you make it a hassle for people to receive or play a pirated game, people are more likely to just go and buy it. Besides, there is a good market for used, or cheap console titles, and much less of a market for used or cheap PC titles. I still contend PC titles are much more likely to be pirated.

The story of the comics would have you believe that with Kun, so went the Sith. The novels, and movies suggest that the Sith remained in small numbers for 4,000 years, popping back up with Darth Sidious. My take is that the Sith beliefs, and people were basically wiped to almost total extinction at least twice (Exar Kun, and Darth Bane). In between, followers of Sith leaders may have temporarily flourished again. In KOTOR, the Republic is the power, with the Sith being the challenger. I get the impression that in KOTOR:2, the Republic is going to be in shambles, and the new Sith Empire the power.

Side note on the Lucas/Kasdan/Foster thing: Lucas spent 9 years writting, and rewritting Star Wars. Some of his early scripts were Dune rip-offs involving spice trade on a desert planet, General Skywalker, the Whills, no Jedi, etc. A New Hope was all Lucas. Foster wanted to write the novel, but missed the boat. He started work on a "sequel" to A New Hope, titled Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Lucas went in a different direction and did Empire Strikes Back, which is infinitely better than Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Foster is a pretty good author, but he didn't have a great grasp of Star Wars. Kasdan added a great influence on Star Wars, but no one can take away from the fact that Lucas had quite a few great movies. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The prequels merely suffer from a lack of an editorial process. Most people don't understand that films are often made or ruined in the editting process. Episode 1 was a fine novel (written by a fine author, Terry Brooks), with a good story. The film suffered greatly. Lucas didn't come up with a horrible story. He told the story poorly. There is a difference. Back on topic of romance, did anyone here buy the Episode 2 DVD? Did you watch the deleted scenes? There is a scene where Anakin and Padme visit Padme's family on Naboo that features early in the movie. Anakin is outside playing with the youngins, and Padme is looking out the window at Anakin. In that moment you see Padme's love for Anakin. Her mother catches it, and Padme goes back into the denial that she believes is necessary because of her station. That 10 second moment sets up the rest of the movie, and salvages what otherwise is a rather poor romance. Due to a poor editorial decision, it was cut to have a faster-paced, action-oriented movie. Really good movies can often be told in brief "beats". X-Men: 2 is a great example (despite being a big-budget studio tent-pole) of fine directing and storytelling. Each of the characters has their story told and realized in efficient dialouge, and good "beats". Lucas and Obsidian could both take a cue from Singer's excellent storytelling (Apt Pupil, Usual Suspects, X-Men, X-Men: 2)

Mark Hamil did acting for cut-scenes in the Wing Commander series, which was a sci-fi fighter game. He also looks completely different now. Still, I don't think we'll see many video cut-scenes anymore.

Okay, I'd be a liar if I said I've never pirated anything in my life, but my conscience is catching up with me. I buy from companies I really want to support, but I haven't purchased every game I've played. Yet, I felt that companies made so much money on these games, that it didn't affect the industry as a whole. Or often, if I saw what I did as "demoing" or renting the product. If I really liked it, I would usually buy the product (especially so I could have a valid CD key and play online). Now, I have to wonder if the reason big companies are more apt to rush out console titles and focus less on PC titles is the piracy issue. All I know, is that the world is an economic democracy. If we want to see more PC titles, then we need to fork over cash on PC titles.

Mark Hamil did cut-scene acting for games, not to mention he does alot of voice-acting. Could you see him doing a Jedi video-game? As far as cut scenes go, I'm content with in-engine scenes most of the time. Nobody does cut-scenes like Square-Enix. I don't know why other companies bother sometime.

It would not suprise me. In KOTOR, for so much of the game you seemed like Bastilla's lap-dog, or at least inferior to her in levels of importance. I imagine KOTOR:TSL will have a transition from student to master, where you influence younger companions.

The Sith were a people, several times waning and waxing in power. In KOTOR, we see Malak and Revan (who could be described as Sith) and many people who serve the Sith. Saul and the like aren't truly Sith, but they serve the Sith Empire.

I'm assuming that he read the major stuff like Zahn, and Anderson. Quite frankly, there are quite a few bad or mediocre Star Wars novels out there (Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy, etc).

Yellow - the Undead Ranger

(insert clammor here)

I don't care that much. I've found that 100x100 or 80x80 seems to be the standard. My opinion is, if you're going to police avatars, then police signatures.

With FU and MCA, I assume that storyline is a given. Not to mention, that I don't consider it an optional feature of a game, but rather as the building blocks of an RPG.

I think it's a good idea, but not one suited to the current engine. If every object in the engine had it's own physics model like the Source Engine (Half-Life 2) then great. There aren't objects around to hurl. And it would look silly to be standing in the barren desert of Tatooine, and see random crates flying at your target. Likewise, it would be silly to be underwater, and see the same effect, or any other location where the crates or objects would be out of place. I'd chalk it up as a good idea for KOTOR:3, or a KOTOR mod to HalfLife 2. (With the gravity gun, and the physics engine, you could accomplish some incredible TK powers).

If one of those licenses were to fall in Obsidian's hands (which is fairly unlikely to begin with) I'm sure the projects would start anew, and not be resurrections of old projects. FU's or MCA's FO3 would be different from Sawyer's FO3. They wouldn't have the Jefferson engine, and probably would want to start from scratch even if given the option. Also, imagine that you worked for a company, slaving on projects you enjoy. Let's say you're on salary, putting in 50-60 hours a week (from what I hear, not uncommon in game development) and your parent company swears up and down that they're supporting your project and not going anywhere, when they pull the rug out from underneath you. Do you want to work with said company on any level ever again? I don't think I would want to. I'd love to see Obsidian head up FO3. I think it's more likely that Silver Side might get the project.

I would say that Bendak provides a harder challenge at the time than Malak. I toasted Malak on the first try without breaking a sweat. And a few friendly words of advice. Read the stickies, and don't post the same thing over and over again. Following these tips will prevent future flames. Furthermore, you might find answers to your questions right away. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

The devs have sad that a lot of the models still aren't done.

I agree that longer gameplay would be good. I think most people would. However, the devs have stated that length of play in KOTOR:TSL should be similiar to KOTOR.

In all fairness, I already have porn. I don't have info on KOTOR:TSL.